Singlestage and multistage electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump

ABSTRACT

An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump is disclosed. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump includes an inner tube, an outer tube, two annular separation plates, a plurality of pistons, and an electromagnetic coil. The inner tube has a plurality of first and second through holes, and it accommodates the abovementioned pistons to revolve inside. The outer tube has an intake opening and an exhaust opening, and it wraps the inner tube inside. In addition, the annular separation plates are disposed inside the outer tube for dividing the inner space of the outer tube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space. The first airproof space connects the intake opening and communicates the inner space of the first tube via the first through holes; the second airproof space connects the exhaust opening and communicates the inner space of the first tube via the second through holes. Moreover, the electromagnetic coil is mounted on the wall outside of the inner tube in the first airproof space for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a piston pump and, more particularly,to an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump.

(b) Description of the Related Art

An air pump is a device used to increase air pressure by reducing volumeof the air. Air pumps are usually classified into threetypes—reciprocating, centrifugal, and axial-flow, and the reciprocatingtype is most commonly used due to its' ability to obtain a wide pressurerange.

A reciprocating pump is also called a reciprocating piston pump for thatit has a piston reciprocating in a fixed space to compress air and thusincrease pressure. Presently, electromagnetic force is often used todrive the piston, as illustrated in FIG. 1, to gain larger air pressurefrom the reciprocating piston pump.

However, the reciprocating piston pump illustrated in FIG. 1 has thefollowing disadvantages. Firstly, the pressure distribution isdiscontinuous since the piston must return to its' original positionafter compressing and discharging the air and before making nextcompressing stroke. Secondly, an extra pressure storage tank is oftenneeded for the pump to get a stable and continuous pressure. Thirdly,the back-pressure valves constraining airflow direction, the intakevalves, and the exhaust valves provided inside the reciprocating pistonpump are made of many parts, which not only complicates the whole systembut also makes the system difficult to maintain. Fourthly, the frictionproduced during reciprocation of the piston consumes a large amount ofkinetic energy of the piston, results in more energy provision for thepiston, and thus leads to an increase in working cost and a decrease inwork efficiency.

In view of above, the present invention provides an electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump which solves the discontinuous pressureproblem preexisting in conventional electromagnetic reciprocating pistonpumps, increases pump efficiency, effectively lowers the number of partsused in a pump, decreases pump body mass, and increases airflow.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide an electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump capable of getting continuing air pressure soas to resolve the discontinued pressure problem in conventionalelectromagnetic reciprocating piston pump.

Another object of the invention is to effectively increase airflow andpressure and to improve reciprocating piston pump efficiency.

Another object of the invention is to effectively reduce number of partsin electromagnetic reciprocating piston pumps and to make thereciprocating pump size smaller.

An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the inventionincludes a first tube, a second tube, two annular separation plates, aplurality of pistons, and an electromagnetic coil.

The first tube accommodates the aforementioned pistons to revolve insidetherein, and it has a plurality of first and second through holes. Thesecond tube has an intake opening and an exhaust opening, and wraps thefirst tube inside. In addition, the two annular separation plates aredisposed inside the second tube to divide the inner space of the tubeinto a first airproof space and a second airproof space, where the firstairproof space connects the intake opening and communicates inner spaceof the first tube via the first though holes, and the second airproofspace connects the exhaust opening and communicates inner space of thefirst tube via the second through holes. Moreover, the electromagneticcoil is mounted on outside walls of the first tube in the first airproofspace for exerting electromagnetic force onto the pistons.

The first tube of the invention has a low friction coefficient, and itcan be made of copper and the second tube can be made of plastic.

In a first embodiment, the diameter of first through holes decreases andthe number of first through holes decreases as the holes get far awayfrom the intake opening; moreover, the diameter of second through holesdecreases and the number of second through holes decreases as the holesget far away from the exhaust opening.

In a second embodiment, an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump ofthe invention further comprises a plurality of annular separation plateswhich are placed inside the second airproof space and divide the secondairproof space into a plurality of airproof spaces which are not incommunication with each other. Each of the airproof spaces connects anexhaust opening and communicates inner space of the first tube via thesecond through holes.

In a third embodiment, a plurality of electromagnetic revolutionarypiston pumps of the invention can be connect together to form amultistage electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump capable ofobtaining higher air pressure.

Through the design of the invention, the electromagnetic revolutionarypiston pump is able to: 1. have continuous air pressure and increasedairflow; 2. avoid the usage of parts like back-pressure valve, and thuseffectively reduces the number of pump parts used and the pump size; 3.lower the energy loss in the system, and hence increases work efficiencyand reduces working cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of aconventional reciprocating piston pump.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of anelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the firstembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2B is a perspective view illustrating the inside arrangement of theouter doughnut tube in FIG. 2A.

FIG. 2C is a perspective view illustrating the arrangement relationshipbetween the electromagnetic coils and the inner doughnut tube in FIG.2A.

FIG. 2D is an exploded view illustrating the structure of the piston inFIG. 2A.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of anelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the secondembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure of anelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump according to the thirdembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumpusing externally-added magnetic force to allow pistons to revolve fastand continuous inside an annular (doughnut shape) tube formed withthrough holes, and thus to compress air.

Referring to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, in a first embodiment, anelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 includes a plastic outerdoughnut tube 11, a copper inner doughnut tube 12, two annularseparation plates 13 a and 13 b, five pistons 14 a to 14 e, and fivesets of electromagnetic coils 15 a to 15 e.

The inner doughnut tube 12 is wrapped inside the outer doughnut tube 11,and the inner doughnut tube has a plurality of through holes 121 and 122arranged on its' sidewall. The two annular separation plates 13 a and 13b are placed inside the outer doughnut tube 11 but outside the innerdoughnut tube 12, dividing the inner space of the outer doughnut tube 11into two airproof spaces 111 and 112 that do not communicate with eachother. The airproof space 111 connects an intake opening 10 a closer tothe annular separation plate 13 a, and communicates with the spaceinside the inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 121. Theairproof space 112 connects an exhaust opening 10 b closer to theannular separation plate 13 b, and communicates with the space insidethe inner doughnut tube 12 via the through holes 122. The intake opening10 a and the exhaust opening 10 b are so arranged that a phasedifference of 180 degrees exists therebetween. Furthermore, theelectromagnetic coils 15 a to 15 e are mounted on the outside walls ofthe inner doughnut tube 12 inside the airproof space 111 and are usedfor producing magnetic force to drive the pistons 14 a to 14 e placedinside the inner doughnut tube 12. So when these pistons 14 a to 14 epass through an electromagnetic field created by the electromagneticcoils 15 a to 15 e, the pistons 14 a to 14 e can be accelerated forwardone by one.

For example, at the instant when the piston 14 b is accelerated up, theresulting vacuum inside the inner doughnut tube 12 sucks the air insidethe airproof space 111 into the inner doughnut tube 12 via the throughholes 121 on the inner doughnut tube 12. The sucked in air is thencompressed and pushed forward by another accelerated piston 14 a thatfollows immediately after the piston 14 b. The compressed air is thensent to the airproof space 112 via the through holes 122, and finallydischarged from the exhaust opening 10 b connecting with the airproofspace 112. Afterwards, the pistons 14 a to 14 e are no longer under theinfluence of magnetic force, and slow down naturally due to the frictionbetween itself and the inner doughnut tube 12 until they pass throughthe electromagnetic coils 15 a to 15 e again for another compressingstroke. In the process of speeding up pistons 14 a to 14 e, because thepistons in front is faster than the pistons on the back, the distancesbetween pistons would prevent them from colliding with each other.

Moreover, in order that the airproof space 111 is able to store pressureand avoid the pistons 14 a to 14 e from colliding and thus generatingnoise after the air is released from airproof space 112, the size anddistribution of the through holes 121 and 122 on the inner doughnut tube12 corresponding to the acceleration and the deceleration of the pistonsin the embodiment vary from big to small, dense to sparse, respectively.In other words, the diameter of the through holes 121 gets smaller andthe distribution of the through holes 121 becomes sparser as the throughholes get farther away from the intake opening 10 a. The diameter of thethrough holes 122 gets smaller and the distribution of the through holes122 becomes sparser as the through holes get farther away from theintake opening 10 b.

On the other hand, for the purpose of quickly reducing the speed of thepistons 14 a to 14 e to a preferred value without applying extraexternal force, such as the electromagnetic force, before the pistons 14a to 14 e enter the next compressing stroke, the diameter of innerdoughnut tube 12 of the electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1decreases gradually as it gets far away from the exhaust opening 10 b.In addition, a rubber ring 16 with diameter slightly larger than theinside diameter of the inner doughnut tube 12 is placed inside the innerdoughnut tube 12 near the annular separation plate 13 a to buffer thepistons 14 a to 14 e.

Referring to FIG. 2C, each of the electromagnetic coils 15 a to 15 e ofthe electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 is made of amagnetically permeable material 151, which may be silicon sheets,wrapped with a coil winding 152 and provided with an air gap 153 for theinner doughnut tube 12 to pass through.

Referring to FIG. 2D, each of the pistons 14 a to 14 e includes alaminated silicon steel sheet assembly 141 composed of a plurality ofsilicon steel sheets, a permanent magnet 142, a piston collar 143 madeof stainless steel, two clip caps 144, two rubber stoppers 145, twowashers 146, and two fixing bolts 147.

The laminated silicon sheet assembly 141 is formed to have a centralthrough hole 141 a and two grooves 141 b on opposite sides. The centralthrough hole 141 a is for accommodating the permanent magnet 142 tostrengthen the magnetic force between the piston 14 a and each of theelectromagnetic coils 15 a to 15 e, while the grooves 141 b are servedas air gaps. In this way, the piston 14 will be adjusted automaticallydue to the magnetic resistance variation when the piston 14 a passes theair gap 153. Thus, the minimum magnetic resistance caused by thelaminated silicon steel assembly 141 and the maximum magnetic forceapplied to the piston 14 a are ensured. Therefore, the contour of thegrooves 141 b can be shapes other than rectangular as illustrated inFIG. 2D, such as circular, as long as the magnetic resistance caused bythe laminated silicon steel sheet assembly 141 and each of theelectromagnetic coils 15 a to 15 e is a minimum.

In addition, the silicon steel sheet assembly 141 is placed in thepiston collar 143, and is fixed in place by two clip caps separatelymounted on two sides of the piston collar 143. Moreover, one rubberstopper 145 is mounted on each clip cap 144 mounted to provide necessaryarea for compressing air and to lower the noise created by the movementof piston 14 a in the inner doughnut tube 12. The washers 146 and fixingbolts 147 are then used to fix the clip caps 144 and rubber stoppers 145in place.

Referring to FIG. 3, in a second embodiment, the airproof space 112 ofelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 1 can be further divided into4 airproof spaces 113, 114, 115, and 116 by using other annularseparation plates 13 c, 13 d, and 13 e with the airproof spaces 113,114, 115, and 116 connecting exhaust openings 10 c, 10 d, 10 e, and 10f, respectively. In this way, one can get air with various pressures andairflows separately from the exhaust openings 10 c, 10 d, 10 e, and 10f.

Referring to FIG. 4, in a third embodiment, a plurality ofelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pumps according to the inventioncan be connected in series to provide higher pressure of multistage andmore airflow. For example, the exhaust opening of an electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump 1 is connected to the intake opening of anelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 2, and the exhaust opening ofthe electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 2 is connected to theintake opening of an electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump 3, and soon.

Since the pistons of the invention revolve inside the inner doughnuttube continuously, the invention can therefore generate continuouspressure without a backpressure valve and have the same pressure rangeas a conventional reciprocating pump. In addition, since the loss ofmagnetic energy in the invention relates only to the friction betweenpistons and the tube wall during the acceleration process, the loss ofthe electromagnetic energy can be reduced effectively and workefficiency can be raised.

Please note that even though the outer doughnut tube in theaforementioned embodiments is made of plastic, the material of outerdoughnut tube is not limited thereof. In addition, the material of theinner doughnut tube is not limited to copper; other low frictioncoefficient materials can be used as well. Moreover, the phasedifference between the intake opening and exhaust opening is notrestricted to 180 degrees; it can be varied according to design needs.

While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms ofthe preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention isnot limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it isintended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements aswould be apparent to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the scope ofthe appended claims should be accorded with the broadest interpretationso as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.

1. An electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump, comprising: a firstdoughnut tube having a plurality of first and second through holes; aplurality of pistons revolving inside the first doughnut tube; a secondtube having an intake opening and a plurality of exhaust openings, thesecond tube wrapping the first tube inside; a plurality of annularseparation plates disposed inside the second tube for dividing the innerspace of the second tube into a first airproof space and a plurality ofsecond airproof spaces; and an electromagnetic coil mounted on the firsttube wall for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons; wherein thefirst airproof space connects the intake opening and communicates theinner space of the first tube via the first through holes, and each ofthe second airproof spaces connects one of the exhaust openings andcommunicates the inner space of the first tube via the second throughholes.
 2. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described inclaim 1, wherein the diameter of the first through holes decreases andthe distribution of the through holes gets sparse as the first throughholes get far away from the intake opening.
 3. The electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump as described in claim 2, wherein the diameterof the second through holes decreases and the distribution of thethrough holes gets sparse as the second through holes get far away fromthe exhaust openings.
 4. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumpas described in claim 1, wherein the phase difference between the intakeopening and one of the exhaust openings is 180 degrees.
 5. Theelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1,wherein the diameter of the first doughnut tube in the second airproofspaces decreases as it approaches the electromagnetic coil.
 6. Theelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1,wherein the first doughnut tube has a low friction coefficient.
 7. Theelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1,wherein the first tube is made of copper.
 8. The electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1, wherein the secondtube is made of plastic.
 9. The electromagnetic revolutionary pistonpump as described in claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic coil is madeof a magnetically permeable material wrapped with a coil winding. 10.The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 1,wherein each of the pistons comprises: a silicon steel sheet assemblycomposed of a plurality of silicon steel sheets; a permanent magnetdisposed in the central through hole; a piston collar for accommodatingthe silicon steel sheet assembly; two clip caps separately disposed ontwo sides of the piston collar for holding the silicon steel sheetassembly and the piston collar; and two rubber stoppers placed on theclip caps, respectively.
 11. The electromagnetic revolutionary pistonpump as described in claim 10, wherein each of the silicon steel sheetscomprises a central through hole and two grooves formed on oppositesides of the silicon steel sheet.
 12. An electromagnetic revolutionarypiston pump, comprising: a first tube having a plurality of first andsecond through holes; a plurality of pistons revolving inside the firsttube; a second tube having an intake opening and an exhaust opening,wrapping the first tube inside; two first annular separation platesdisposed in the second tube for dividing the inner space of the secondtube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space; and anelectromagnetic coil mounted on outside walls of the first tube in thefirst airproof space for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons;wherein the first airproof space connects the intake opening andcommunicates inner space of the first tube via the first through holes,and the second airproof space connects the exhaust opening andcommunicates the inner space of the first tube via the second throughholes.
 13. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described inclaim 12, wherein the diameter of the first through holes decreases andthe distribution of the through holes gets sparse as the first throughholes get far away from the intake opening.
 14. The electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump as described in claim 13, wherein the diameterof the second through holes decreases and the distribution of thethrough holes gets sparse as the second through holes get far away fromthe exhaust opening.
 15. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pumpas described in claim 12, wherein the phase difference between theintake opening and the exhaust opening is 180 degrees.
 16. Theelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12,wherein the diameter of the first tube in the second airproof spacedecreases as it approaches the electromagnetic coil.
 17. Theelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12,wherein the first doughnut tube has a low friction coefficient.
 18. Theelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12,wherein the electromagnetic coil is made of a magnetically permeablematerial wrapped with a coil winding.
 19. The electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump as described in claim 12, wherein each of thepistons comprises: a silicon steel sheet assembly composed of aplurality of silicon steel sheets each having two grooves on oppositesides and a central through hole; a permanent magnet placed in thecentral through hole; a piston collar for accommodating the siliconsteel sheet assembly; two clip caps separately disposed on two sides ofthe piston collar for holding the silicon steel sheet assembly and thepiston collar; and two rubber stoppers disposed on the clip caps,respectively.
 20. The electromagnetic revolutionary piston pump asdescribed in claim 12, further comprising a plurality of second annularseparation plates disposed in the second airproof space, dividing thesecond airproof space into a plurality of airproof spaces eachconnecting one exhaust opening and communicating inner space of thefirst tube via the second through holes.
 21. A multistageelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pump comprising: a plurality ofelectromagnetic revolutionary piston pumps, each of the electromagneticrevolutionary piston pumps comprising: a first tube having a pluralityof first and second through holes; a plurality of pistons revolvinginside the first tube; a second tube having an intake opening and anexhaust opening, wrapping the first tube inside; two annular separationplates disposed inside the second tube for dividing the inner space ofthe second tube into a first airproof space and a second airproof space,the first airproof space connecting the intake opening and communicatinginner space of the first tube via the first through holes, the secondairproof space connecting the exhaust opening and communicating theinner space of the first tube via the second through holes; and anelectromagnetic coil disposed on outside walls of the first tube in thefirst airproof space for exerting magnetic force onto the pistons;wherein the exhaust opening of one electromagnetic revolutionary pistonpump is connected with the intake opening of another electromagneticrevolutionary piston pump.